Student digital wellbeing survey interim results - August 2021

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Student wellbeing survey
Interim results
August 2021
Authors: Dr David Biggins and Professor Debbie Holley
https://unsplash.com/photos/ute2XAFQU2I

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CONTENT
CONTENT ...........................................................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................................................3
DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS ....................................................................................................................................................4
CONFIDENCE IN DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES ..............................................................................................................................5
ACCESSING THE INTERNET ..................................................................................................................................................8
ACCESSING STUDY MATERIALS ............................................................................................................................................9
FREQUENCY OF ACCESS ...................................................................................................................................................11
SHOULD STUDENTS HAVE CONTROL OVER THE TECHNOLOGY THEY USE? .............................................................................12
SUPPORT FOR DIGITAL WELLBEING.....................................................................................................................................13
STUDENT ACCESS TO WELLBEING RESOURCES ...................................................................................................................14
FINDINGS .........................................................................................................................................................................15
APPENDIX 1 – FACSIMILE OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE ..............................................................................................................16

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INTRODUCTION
Background
Research from Jisc, the EU and House of Lords all point to the growing need for digital skills in staff and students.
Covid-19 has intensified the focus on these skills as learning went mostly online from March 2020.
The particular focus of this research is on a) how students access learning materials and b) students’ digital
wellbeing.
Purpose
The purpose of this document is to set out the findings and analysis from the questionnaire responses that have been
received to date. It is therefore an interim report.
Methodology
The questionnaire, which can be seen in Appendix 1 was created and approved for use by the BU Ethics Committee.
The questionnaire uses radio button, free-test fields and Likert-type questions.
The confidence levels use the following scale:
1. Unaware. You have not heard of the technology.
2. Aware. You are aware of the technology but have not used it.
3. Practiced. You have a working knowledge of the technology and can use it but usually need help.
4. Competent. You can use the technology and have detailed knowledge.
5. Expert. You are recognised as an expert by fellow students.
The other Likert-type questions use more standard options:
Frequency is expressed using the scale: Never/very rarely; rarely; occasionally; frequently; always/very
frequently.
Difficulty is expressed using the scale: Very difficult; difficult; neither easy nor difficult; easy; very easy; N/A.
Agreement is expressed using the scale: Strongly disagree; disagree; neither agree nor disagree; agree;
strongly agree.
Only the minimum data needed to identify the respondent’s level of study and department was mandatory. All other
questions were optional.
The data was analysed and presented using r.
Structure of this report
The document begins with descriptive statistics. The results from the different sections of the questionnaire are then
plotted with columns coloured based on the level of study of the participant. The textual responses are no included in
this interim report.

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DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS
The questionnaire was conducted in June 2021 in 3 faculties. Undergraduate and post graduate students were invited
to participate. 92 students completed the questionnaire.
Year of study
Gender

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CONFIDENCE IN DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES
This section asked students to identify how confident they felt about using different digital technologies. Each plot is
filled using the level of study.
Computers
Phones

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Social media
YouTube

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VLE
Analysis
Gender is independent of proficiency level. Pearson's Chi-squared test (X-squared = 1.2189, df = 3, p-value =
0.7485).

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ACCESSING THE INTERNET
Using own device
Have a good connection

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ACCESSING STUDY MATERIALS
Learning materials
Assessment materials

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Videos and recorded lectures
Calendar

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FREQUENCY OF ACCESS
How often do students access the VLE?

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SHOULD STUDENTS HAVE CONTROL OVER THE
TECHNOLOGY THEY USE?
84% of students believe they should have control over the learning tools they use.

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SUPPORT FOR DIGITAL WELLBEING
Is the organisation doing enough to support students’ digital wellbeing?
Range: 1 = no, 10 = yes. Mean = 5.73

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STUDENT ACCESS TO WELLBEING RESOURCES
Have you accessed any of the wellbeing resources available?

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FINDINGS
This findings from this interim report are as follows:
• 92 students completed the questionnaire.
• For respondents, the modal year of study is first year and the modal gender is female.
• For all the confidence questions, the modal response is competent (can use the technology and have detailed
knowledge; can supervise others). Students have higher levels of confidence on phones than computers.
Social media has the highest number of students who rate themselves as expert. The VLE has the fewest
students of any of the categories who rate themselves as expert.
• Confidence in using technology is not affected by gender.
• 72% of students always use their own device to access the internet.
• 16% of students always have a good internet connection. The modal response is frequently (57%). 6% rarely
have a good connection.
• Most students find it easy to access study materials. 9.9% of students find it difficult or very difficult to access
learning materials. 14.3% of students find it difficult or very difficult to access assessment materials. 8.8% of
students find it very difficult to access recorded material. A third of students find it difficult or very difficult to
access the unit calendar.
• 62% of students access their unit daily and 92% access their unit 2-3 a week
• 84% of students believe they should have control over the learning tools they use.
• The mean score for whether the organisation is doing enough to support students’ digital wellbeing is 5/7 out
of 10. 9% of students record the lowest possible mark of 1.
• 68% of students have not accessed any of the organisation’s wellbeing resources.

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APPENDIX 1 – FACSIMILE OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE
This appendix contains screenshots from the Jisc Online Surveys questionnaire.
[List of departments]

Student digital wellbeing survey interim results - August 2021

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